Paper, fillable forms have been in use for many years providing an expeditious system to secure required information in a structure format. An example of paper forms can be found in a typical setting of a department of motor vehicles (DMV). A DMV provides a variety of services to license vehicles and drivers. Many DMV services start with a requirement that a user fill out information on a printed form corresponding to a desired service. Example service forms include:
Applications for a temporary driver learner permit;
Applications for a driver's license;
Applications for driver license renewal;
Applications for a vehicle license;
Applications for a vehicle license renewal;
Applications to register a vehicle title;
Applications for a replacement vehicle title;
Applications for vehicle instructor license; and
Applications for a chauffeur license
Separate forms for the forgoing examples are also needed for different vehicles, such as automobiles, motorcycles or boats. It will be thus appreciated that a service agency such as a DMV, business or school must print and store a myriad of paper forms to cover all needed areas.
In a typical service environment, such as a DMV, a customer waits in line to be waited upon by a staff member. Some establishments may ask a customer to take a paper ticket with a queue number which is called once it is their turn for service. Once called, a user informs a staff member of their needs. The staff member locates a form corresponding to the request and hands it to the customer to fill out, and return it once complete. The customer may once again have to stand in line to return the now-filled form. If a form is incomplete or filled erroneously, the customer would need to fix it before it could be processed, potentially adding ever more waiting time. Only once the form is completed correctly and given to a staff member can the process of completing the requested service commence.
Given the expense in obtaining and maintain MFPs, devices are frequently shared or monitored by users or technicians via a data network. MFPs, while moveable, are generally maintained in a fixed location. Until more recent times, users, which may include individuals or groups such as employees, administrators or technicians administrators of networked MFPs, were also generally in relatively fixed location. A user would typically communicate documents or other information from his or her office or workstation. An administrator or technician would also monitor devices from a workstation.
Users may send document processing jobs, such as a print request, to one or more networked devices. In a typical shared device setting, one or more workstations are connected via a network. When a user wants to print a document, an electronic copy of that document is sent to a document processing device via the network. The user may select a particular device when several are available. The user then walks to the selected device and picks up their job or waits for the printed document to be output. If multiple users send their requests to the same device, the jobs are queued and outputted sequentially.
User devices have become increasingly mobile. Often users interact with MFPs via portable notebook computers, or via handheld devices such as tablet computers, smartphones, or the like. While many portable devices may still be used at a workplace, a user may do so from various workplace locations. Many users will interact with network MFPs while travelling or away from home. While a fixed user in a stable MFP setting may quickly realize an optimal MFP utilization, mobile users, administrators or technicians may not even be aware of what MFP resources are around them.